The fire engulfed her as she clutched to her spear. She looked up, down, left, right, forward and back, but only flames. She felt her metal practically melt as she squinted her burning eyes. Where was he? How’d she get here again? She didn’t remember, and didn’t want to, she just wanted to get out of this ring of torture.
A silhouette. She ran towards it, feeling the metal finally drip as it singed her arms and she cried out in pain.- - - Chalice sat up in bed and gasped for air. She clutched her arm, but was relieved to feel it cooling down some. Though, just like in the dream of course, it had melted some. She pulled her sleeve down. Well, she wasn’t going to sleep for a while now. Chalice got out of bed and walked as quietly as she could to the living room. If she was out there and put the radio on low, she could stay awake.
/ / /
Tea stirred awake from the quiet footsteps. She never would’ve before, but there was something about being an active mother that heightened her senses, especially if it had to do with one of her kids, blood or not. She got up to peek through the door to see who it was. She recognized the shadow as Chalice’s.
Carefully, she closed the door and walked down the hall to see Chalice putting the radio at a low volume, and sitting, kicking her feet.
Tea walked over loud enough so it wouldn’t exactly scare Chalice when she spoke. “Hey. Whatcha’ doin’ up? Can’t sleep?” She asked as she sat across from her.
“... I don’t wanna sleep.” Chalice mumbled after a moment.
Tea frowned as she crossed her leg and clasped her hands. “Well, ya’ gotta sleep, hon’.” She said softly. “Are you having any nightmares?”
Chalice looked up now, a little surprised that her adoptive mother deduced it that quickly. Maybe it was instinct? “How’d you know?”
Tea shrugged. “I didn’t. I just get the same way when I have a bad dream. Not that I can’t go back to sleep, it’s that I don’t wanna have the same dream.” As Chalice nodded, she asked, “Do you… wanna talk about it?”
Chalice was kind of frozen. She didn’t ever tell anyone about her nightmares. “It’ll sound like a bunch of malarkey…”
“I’ll still listen, even if I don’t understand.” Tea claimed in a gentle tone. It was unusual to hear her so quiet, she was always so boisterous and loud. It was a side of her that showed she could calm down and care. “If you don’t want to, that’s fine too of course.”
Chalice wrung her wrists as she looked off to the side. “Okay. But it’s… scary. And creepy…” She straightened out on the chair as she pulled her sleeve back to reveal the melted metal. The immediate alarm in Tea’s eyes made Chalice feel guilty.
“What happened?” Tea had asked quickly and sternly, but there was still an obvious caring tone in her voice. She had stood up to get a closer look. “Who did this to you?” She asked, leading her to the kitchen as she grabbed a medical kit from a cupboard.
“M-My dream?” Chalice questioned herself. “I don’t know, I-I have these dreams that I’m a different person. A-and whatever happens to t-that person, happens to me in real life.” Her voice began to shake. “T-There was fire in this one, a-and her metal was m-melting. So mine did too.”
Tea wanted to believe her, but- how would that make sense? It shouldn’t be possible- it isn’t possible! But- there it was. “Are… are you sure you didn’t just burn yourself on accident earlier today and forget about it?” She shook her head, “No, you would remember if you burnt yourself…” She got a cold wet rag and placed it against Chalice’s arm, surprised to feel the heat radiating off of it. ‘There’s so many ridiculous things in this world, Teaghan, why would dream burns be odd to you?’ she thought to herself. She cleaned out the burn, then put some kind of pain relieving ointment on and wrapped it up. “Try not to touch it, I know, it’ll itch soon. But just try not to touch it.”
“C-Can you not tell anyone? Please?” Chalice pleaded. “Especially not Dad? Because he’ll freak out and the boys will make fun of me for-”
“Nobody’s going to make fun of you for it. I’ll make sure of that.” Tea said protectively, putting a hand on Chalice’s cheek. “But, I won’t tell anyone else if you don’t want me to. Your secret’s safe with me unless I tell you otherwise.” She paused a moment before holding Chalice’s hands gently. “We’ll figure this out, okay? Let's get you back to bed.”
Chalice was still in shock of how gentle she was being treated about the whole thing. Those nasty penguins in the orphanage would’ve beat her with their rulers for this. For a single tear about this. She looked at Tea and nodded. “O-okay.”
